For those of you “of a certain age,” you may fondly remember this TV series that aired over 60 years ago. According to Wikipedia, here’s a synopsis of the show:
“Father Knows Best is an American sitcom starring Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray and Lauren Chapin. The series, which began on radio in 1949, aired as a television show for six seasons and 203 episodes. Created by Ed James, Father Knows Best follows the lives of the Andersons, a middle-class family living in the town of Springfield. The state in which Springfield is located is never specified, but it is generally accepted to be located in the Midwestern United States.”
I don’t remember a lot of details because I was pretty little and mostly unaware of what I was watching back then, but it’s likely in the same genre as “Leave It to Beaver.”
Before we engage in any debate on the significance or “political correctness” of the title, rest assured I’m not going down that road!
I’m taking a hard U-turn and writing instead about the little life with which I spend the vast majority of my time. You guessed it – Maisy, aka Miss Sassy Pants. Don’t worry, I’ll connect these two seemingly disparate ideas eventually.
I believe the trajectory that I want to share today may resonate with you, whether or not you have a Maisy living in your household.
I want to take us back about two years when I had to unexpectedly and with great heartbreak, put my sweet Daisy down, making the impossible decision in less than 24 hours due to inoperable, fast-growing cancer. Even as I type this, I tear up because it was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. And I still miss that precious pet.
Not long after (like within hours), I was just scrolling through the website of the breeder where I got Daisy, not looking for another dog, but simply trying to distract my mind by looking at their cute Frenchies. For the past few years, that’s all they had been selling – purebred Frenchies for a price way outside my comfort zone.
But to my surprise, they were featuring a batch of the Boston/Frenchie mixes, like Daisy, and who should be front and center on the page, but an adorable puppy already named Maisy.
Within seconds it was clear to me that this was the dog God wanted for me, to help me start the healing process of losing Daisy. Who can argue with the fact that I went from Daisy Mae to Maisy Day? To use one of my mom’s favorite descriptors, it was providential.
A few weeks later, I brought this adorable pooch home to live with me and her sister and brother, Winnie and Max. Of course, the usual puppy challenges were obvious from the get-go, but it didn’t take long before I realized this child was unlike any puppies I had ever had.
I won’t go into great detail because many of you have followed my crazy Maisy journey over the past few years.
What I will reemphasize is the fact that this dog was exhausting! It took a full twelve months before I got any sign of submission from her. For reasons I won’t elaborate on, I had to go outside every time she did, regardless of whether it was 3 pm on a sunny day, or 3 am in the middle of a blizzard.
I seriously considered cannabis oil or an animal behaviorist. Even my dog-lover friends suggested I might want to consider giving her back to the breeder. I have never had an animal as difficult as Maisy. You may recall she even got the moniker, “Tasmanian Devil.” I was constantly in tears.
I lost count of the times I said to God, “Are you sure this is the dog you meant for me?” That season taught me that I will never start over with a puppy for the rest of my life!
In the past few months, as Maisy has crossed the two-year mark, I have found myself saying to her, “I love you so much! What would I do without you? You bring incredible joy to my world.” I actually had to chuckle to myself because it caught me off guard a bit. Where did that come from?
That’s when I realized that, despite those hard, out-of-control months, Maisy was exactly what I needed. I saw then what I had missed in the months leading up to today, that Father knows best.
God could see the end from the beginning. He knew the kind of companion she would become, just as he knows the joys she will bring to me as long as he chooses to bless me with her bigger-than-life personality.
And in the same way, God knows the trajectory of every circumstance in our lives. He knows where we will find blessings, he knows when trials will fall upon us, and most importantly, he knows exactly how he’s going to bring us through them, and the good he will do through them.
My prayer is that the trials each of us face will cause us (eventually) to say to God, “I love you so much. What would I do without you? You bring incredible joy to my world.” Amen!
For I am God and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, “My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,.”
Isaiah 46:9-10